Mole Catching. Another string to my bow revealed

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Mole Catching. Another string to my bow revealed
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@Calli

Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 1682
Location: Galway

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 06 3:08 pm Post subject:
I guess your next move won't be here then!!! No moles apparently and in fairness in 5 years not seen any signs....but was tempted to import one specially for a conceited old git who made a fuss about his lawn in Kerry and who was a neighbour from hell

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 8:15 am Post subject: Mole?

Not sure if you know this one but here in Spain we have a burying rodent called a rato topo (bit like a mouse with large front teeth that tunnels below the surface and seems to think that roots of veg plants are for it to enjoy). Apparently it was introduced a couple of decades ago to feed birds of prey (madness).

Any suggestions as to how to decrease its numbers? I suppose it is a bit like a cross between a mouse and a mole....ugly little blighter.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 11:06 am Post subject:
So you're a moudieman, then, Bodger

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 4:54 pm Post subject: Re: Mole Catching. Another string to my bow revealed

bodger wrote:

For half a dozen years I earned part of my living as a mole catcher.
Not too much of a revelation I know but If anybody wants any help then I'm your man. By this I mean help and encouragement via the internet.
I have experience using the dreaded strychnene which won't be of much use to you but I also use to trap and to use Phostoxin.

My work included large farms and gardens

You can come and do ours Bodger - we've got bloody loads of 'em now

Marionb

Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 5267
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 7:53 pm Post subject:

When we moved to our present place, about 12 years ago, some of our neighbours fields were so bad you couldnt see where one mole hill stopped and the next began

I bought a few traps to catch the moles that were in our field (probably moved to ours from theirs), got the bug, caught moles for my parents neighbours, and when my next door neighbours got to hear of my success they asked me to try trapping the moles on their land... with great success!!! I caught over 100 moles in one year, and that was just as a hobby sort of thing. I cleared the worst field, I always felt very proud when I drove past the field and there wasnt a molehill in sight.

Following the son taking over the farm a few years back my services no longer seemed to be required..... now, sadly, the fields are slowly becoming extremely mole-infested again. I think he uses strychnine to clear the fields that he wants to have sileage from. I would never use strychine - I have heard that it can stay in the ground for 20 years fater its been used - is that right?? If so, I hope no-one ever tries to grow potatoes or swedes etc there!!!

Also, there is a feeling of having achieved something when you catch the mole in the trap - and you know for sure he's dead too!!! Some people reckon poison just drives them away and they come back some time later.

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 7:59 pm Post subject:
Has anyone experience of the device that operates by emmiting sound - a device that is dug into the ground run on batteries? If so how effective are they and what area would one cover?

Marionb

Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 5267
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 8:01 pm Post subject:
I havent actually seen or used one but from what I've heard they arent that good, the moles only move away temporarily and come back as soon as the sound device is removed.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46269
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 8:03 pm Post subject:
not about trapping but a mole question most hills are quite small but sometimes one is huge ,why ?

Marionb

Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 5267
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 07 8:15 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

not about trapping but a mole question
most hills are quite small but sometimes one is huge ,why ?

The smaller mole hills are ones that the moles push up as they are tunnelling along underground. The big ones are often the "main" molehill and there's a good chance there's a nest of moles in there somewhere.

There's a name for those big molehills but I cant for the life of me remember what it is!!

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 07 1:05 pm Post subject:

I think you'll find that they are called citadels.

The ultrasonic devices are not that good.

If you went from the countryside to live by the side of a motorway, you wouldn't get a wink of sleep for a week or two, but you would get use to it.
Its the same with all the devices that are advertised for keeping away mammals.
I've seen pictures in trade journals of rats actually feeding nonchalently on top of the very devices that were meant to keep them away.

I used strychnene when doing farms. Ughhhh ! horrible stuff. There's no antidote .

I'm 99% certain that it has recently been prohibited and quite rightly so.
The mole trappers skills are going to be in big demand.

Marionb

Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 5267
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 07 7:34 pm Post subject:
Any idea what the going rate for mole trapping is, Bodger?? Do they charge by the hour, or by the number of moles caught or...??

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 07 8:34 pm Post subject:
Don't bother with the farmers because they wont pay. My cousins brother in law lives in Hampshire and is a pest controller and he was only telling me the other night, that he is on a minimum of �90 a go and that he has loads of takers .

Marionb

Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 5267
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 07 10:30 pm Post subject:
That sounds pretty good!!!!!

Treacle

Joined: 24 Mar 2007
Posts: 9

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 07 7:34 pm Post subject:

Being an devoted animal lover, I would hate to resort to trapping the mole thats taken up residence in our lawn this year, but he is really driving us to distraction. We have always had the odd molehill, but this year we have loads. We were actually watching one move late last night. In the past our cat has dug down and caught them, but she is getting old!

I would love to encourage him to move on, as we are surrounded by open farmland and are quite happy if he moved into our field and we could have our garden back. Its so undermined in places, I twist my ankle when I'm mowing the lawn.

Is there a humane deterrant which actually works? I've heard of putting kids windmills in the tunnels and mothballs etc, but can anyone recommend anything.

Thanks, T

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 07 8:13 pm Post subject:

bodger wrote:

Don't bother with the farmers because they wont pay.

My cousins brother in law lives in Hampshire and is a pest controller and he was only telling me the other night, that he is on a minimum of �90 a go and that he has loads of takers .

how much????? for one mole?

rolf caught one in his hand one day just as it was surfacing

lovely but strange looking creature though very destructive

we put him down in our compost/ muck heap and he had a wonderful life, never bothered the lawn again

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